1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to single gripper conveyor systems, specifically an improved system of waste management resulting in savings in cost and natural resources.
2. Description of Prior Art
One method of carrying printed product from a printing press to a distribution area is via a single gripper conveyor system. Printed copy exits the press and enters the conveyor one copy at a time and is carried past a waste release to a distribution area.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,955,667 (1976), 3,671,035 (1977), and 4,201,286 (1980), all to FERAG AG., discuss the Single Gripper Conveyor as well as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,746,007 (1988), 4,852,722 (1988), and 4,905,818 (1990), all to QUIPP INCORPORATED.
Currently, all printed copy that enters the conveyor must be selected as either waste copy or good copy. If the printed copy is selected as waste, the grippers carrying the waste product are electrically labelled to direct them to be discarded at a waste release near the end of the conveyor before the copy reaches the distribution center. If the operator selects the copy to be good, the next copy that enters the conveyor is considered good and is electrically marked as such. This copy will bypass the waste release and continue to the distribution area. However, all copy in front of the first copy marked good will be discarded at the waste release. This product may be good copy, but cannot be accessed because of current operating limitations. An existing limitation is that since the printed copy may contain multiple pages, every page must be inspected for quality before the operator can judge it as good copy. As the operator is inspecting the entire copy, additional copy is entering the conveyor at a typical startup rate of 16,000 to 20,000 copies per hour or the equivalent of 5.5 copies every second. It takes between 10 to 20 seconds to check a small product's quality. This generates a loss of approximately 100 wasted copies every time a printing press starts. If the size of the copy is larger, the time to inspect the copy increases as well, generating more wasted copy. Another disadvantage is the availability of only two conveyor selections good and waste.